Christmas Eve is nearly here, and Santa is at the North Pole making preparations for the big trip. Once the gifts are all loaded on the sleigh, Santa and his elves must sit down and map out the route prior to departure.

Will Santa visit your home this year?

Well, it all depends on whether or not you have a chimney. You see, Santa and his reindeer can land on any roof, but if he can’t travel down a chimney to reach the inside of your home, you’ll be out of luck.

With that in mind, Trulia, an online real estate site, conducted a study between January 2011 and June 2013 to locate the markets with the largest number of homes with chimneys. It ranked cities throughout the U.S. based on the number of for-sale listings that mentioned chimneys.

Here are the results from Trulia:

Where Santa Can Visit: Homes With Chimneys

#

U.S. metropolitan area

For-sale listings mentioning chimneys, per 1,000 listings

1

Buffalo, N.Y.

3.9

2

Philadelphia

3.5

3

Dayton, Ohio

3.4

4

Springfield, Mass.

2.9

5

Hartford, Conn.

2.7

6

Rochester, N.Y.

2.5

7

Peabody, Mass.

2.4

8

Worcester, Mass.

2.4

9

Allentown, Pa.

2.4

10

Richmond, Va.

2.0

Thus, if you purchase a home in an older metropolitan area that is prone to cold weather, Santa is more likely to visit.

But hopefully he’ll drop by no matter where you live.

From all of us, merry Christmas.

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Comments & discussion

We welcome your opinions, but let’s keep it civil. Like many businesses, we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone. In our case, that means those who communicate by name-calling, racism, using words designed to hurt others or generally acting like an uninformed bully. Also, comments that include links to email addresses or commercial websites typically aren't posted. This isn't a place to advertise your business.

Robert Eisman

How can Santa shinny down the chimney if there’s a roaring fire in the fireplace keeping the house toasty warm??